Rohit K. Dasgupta
| birth_place = Kolkata, India | death_date = | death_place = | restingplace = | birthname = | nationality = British | relations = | residence = | alma_mater = University of the Arts London | occupation = | profession = Academic | party = Labour Party | website = }} Dr Rohit K Dasgupta FHEA (born 15 October 1987) is an academic in the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University and a British Labour Party activist . Dasgupta is the author and/or editor of five books including one of the first book length studies on queer social media in India . He has also published notable essays in major academic journals such as Film Quarterly, Theory, Culture and Society, Economic and Political Weekly, Sexualities and Convergence amongst others. He contested the Parliamentary seat of East Hampshire for the Labour Party in 2017, coming second with an increase of 7% vote share. This was the first time the Labour Party came second since the constituency was first created in 1983 . He is also Secretary of the Newham Branch of the Fabian Society . Background Dasgupta gained a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, India concentrating on English, French and Bengali. Following this he did a MA in English from the University of Westminster, PGCert in Teaching and Learning from University of West London and a PhD from University of the Arts London. He was an associate lecturer at University of the Arts London, followed by a research assistantship on an EPSRC project on sexual health at University of Sussex, a lectureship at the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton and is currently a lecturer in Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University . In 2013, Dasgupta received the prestigious Sir Peter Holmes Memorial Award for his project on transgender dancers (laundas) in India from the Royal Society for Asian Affairs . Dasgupta was also awarded a Wellcome Trust grant in 2016 to conduct research on role of social media in sexual health advocacy amongst gay and men who have sex with men in Kolkata, India . This resulted in one of the first such research reports from India published by Bloomsbury Academic. He has also authored and edited several other books on media and digital culture, sexuality, gender, sexual health, anthropology and activism. . His book and articles on the Bengali film maker Rituparno Ghosh is one of the first academic scholarship that emerged on this queer auteur and has been widely praised in both Indian and UK press . Dasgupta is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy, the Royal Asiatic Society and an elected member of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs . He was elected Secretary of the Newham Fabian Society on January, 2017 following which he organised a series of events on contemporary British and European politics. The most recent event he co organised was on Brexit and its impact on local communities which was a joint event between the Newham Fabians and the Institute for Media and Creative Industries . On April, 2017 he was selected as the Parliamentary Candidate by the Labour party to contest the East Hampshire seat in the General election, coming second with 17% of the vote share. During the General elections he campaigned for the UK to remain part of the single market and customs union and condemned the way Brexit had been handled by the UK government . Dasgupta is also the Chair of his local Labour party branch . He was one of the first Bengalis from West Bengal to contest the British Parliamentary elections . Writings Books * (with Gokulsing, K.M., eds) (2014) Masculinity and its Challenges in India: Essays on Changing Perceptions, Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland and Co * (with Datta, S. and Bakshi, K., eds) (2016) Rituparno Ghosh: Cinema, Gender and Art, New Delhi, New York & London: Taylor & Francis: Routledge *(2017) Digital Queer Cultures in India: Politics, Intimacies and Belonging, New Delhi, New York & London: Taylor & Francis: Routledge *(with Dhall, P. ) (2017) Social Media, Sexuality and Sexual Health Advocacy in Kolkata, India, New Delhi & London: Bloomsbury *(with Banerjie, N., Dasgupta, D., and Grant, J., eds) (2017) Friendship as Social Justice Activism: Critical Solidarities in a Global Perspective, Kolkata/London: Seagull Books and Chicago: University of Chicago Press * (with Begum, and L. Lewis., eds) (2018), Styling South Asian Youth Cultures: Fashion, Media and Society, London: I.B. Tauris References Category:Academics of Loughborough University Category:Scholars from Kolkata Category:Labour Party (UK) people Category:Living people Category:LGBT studies academics